Let that timeline sink in. In the span since the last new med school opened here, we've invented the internet, landed on the moon, mapped the human genome, and built an entire economy around people arguing on social media. But training more doctors locally? Apparently that was too ambitious.

The details on the new institution are still coming into focus, but the fundamental need is obvious to anyone paying attention. California faces a projected shortage of thousands of physicians in the coming years, and the Bay Area — despite its concentration of biotech wealth and research hospitals — has been woefully underinvesting in the pipeline of medical professionals who actually treat patients. We've been world-class at developing the next gene-editing startup while struggling to staff emergency rooms.

From a fiscal standpoint, this is the kind of investment that actually pencils out. More locally trained doctors means fewer costly recruiting efforts to lure physicians from out of state. It means a workforce more likely to stay and serve the community where they trained. And it means less reliance on government-funded stopgap programs that paper over structural shortages with taxpayer dollars.

Of course, this being the Bay Area, we should brace for the inevitable bureaucratic gauntlet. Permitting, environmental reviews, community input sessions that devolve into shouting matches — the whole regulatory circus that turns a five-year project into a fifteen-year saga. If city and regional leaders are serious about this, they need to clear the runway instead of adding obstacles.

The physician shortage isn't theoretical. It's showing up in longer wait times, overwhelmed ERs, and clinics that can't keep providers. A new medical school won't fix everything overnight, but it's a genuinely smart, long-overdue move for a region that prides itself on innovation yet somehow forgot to invest in one of the most essential professions there is.

Here's hoping the red tape doesn't kill it before the first class enrolls.